a new blog!

Hey guys – I’ve moved on to a bigger, better blog – click here to go there now!

It’s over at www.mikevarel.com/blog which is also linked to on my wedding site as well as a new photography site at www.mikevarel.com

The reason? larger images that are truer to their color – I’ve loved wordpress, but it only lets me put small pictures up and always dumbs-down the color on each image.  So, swing on by and be sure to update your Google Reader, or RSS feeds if you use those to stay up to date with what’s happening here -

You might also notice a new logo in the top corner thanks to my friend Matt McNary!

Thanks!

Mike.

Giddy Up! A barbecue baby shower with an LA twist.

This past weekend I had the pleasure of shooting for Beth Helmstetter at a baby shower here in town.

I first met Beth on the Big Island of Hawaii.
She was the wedding coordinator/decorator extraordinaire, while Ryan and I filmed every detail of the couple’s day.  I helped her carry white chairs out onto the black sand beach and we chatted amongst the bus loads of Japanese tourists that nearly took over the wedding photography for the day.  We had a blast working together and kept in touch through the wonderful world of email and Facebook.
When she flew into Kansas City last year to do a baby shower, Jenae and I both went and shot pictures for her. It was the most amazing party I think I’ve been to in terms of personality and decorations.  I seriously felt like I was at one of Oprah’s gigs.

She’s one of my favorite people, even though she called me a “girl” for noticing all of her decoration details and just loving the awesomeness that is her ability to take a baby shower + barbecue and yet, make it so much fun and personal.  From the “howdy” tags she had hanging off of each straw to the wooden invitations and mason jars full of white daisies, I was in photo-heaven. I think I shot like 50 pictures of the little individual pies and 10 different angles of the pillow-topped hay bails lining the forever-long table covered in an awesome cowboy print cloth.

She’s got such an amazing website and blog and the pictures are just a glimpse of how talented she is.  She’s based in L.A. but does destination weddings all over the world.

I can tell you that when the day comes that I get married, she will no doubt be in charge of the whole day!

Here’s a few of my shots from the day, but swing on over to her blog to check out the rest!

(If you attended the party, please visit here and you can see more of the images – they should be up shortly)

Matt + Courtney – Anytime Session

This past weekend I got to shoot with one of my favorite couples – Matt + Courtney!

I shot their wedding almost two years ago on the North Shore of Oahu at the Turtle Bay Resort – it was absolutely beautiful!
They’re headed back there for their anniversary in June so we headed out for an Anytime session -
I don’t typically shoot in parks so we tried something different and had a gorgeous day!

Ashley + Derek

A few weekends ago I had the pleasure of second-shooting with Jenae from Imijfoto.
She is a rockstar, one of my great photo friends and incredibly talented.  Not to mention her adorable daughter Stella Blu.
Here’s a shot from the ceremony – go by Jenae’s blog and her site to see more of her awesomeness.
(Yes I believe awesomeness is a word, and that’s how it’s spelled.)

Beth + Ryan = Engaged

Steve Nichols has been a friend of mine for years.  I had the pleasure of filming his wedding video for him back in March of 2006 and meeting his brother Ryan in the process.  He reminds me so much of Steve I’ve had to stop myself from calling him that several times lately.
Beth & Ryan are the kind of couple I would pay to work with – so much fun, hilarious, love to laugh and so in love.  We met a few weeks back to talk over their September wedding which I’m so excited to shoot photos & video for.  I think we hung out for an hour and a half and could’ve gone longer.

Then came their engagement session -

The morning was dreary, cloudy and rainy.
I had a new place in mind I wanted to shoot with them and saw it in my mind, but the weather wasn’t cooperating. We were also supposed to shoot some at a baseball field (which is still to come!), but we decided to see what happened and bring some umbrellas incase.
Just before our session, the sky opened up in a beautiful way –  Here’s a few of their shots -

These guys are big ice cream fans so we hit up Cold Stone for a bit -

one of  my favorites from the day:

Thanks, Beth & Ryan for letting me be a part of telling your story!

Meet Casey.

You’ve all seen the cuteness that is my nephew Grady, well, it’s that time…to meet Casey Jay – his little brother.

Born last week, here’s a few shots for you -

just kidding. (Aaron brought this along so he could drop it in front of people walking in the room to scare the heck out of them.  It worked on me at least.)

Food for the Hungry

I just added a few videos to my vimeo account that I’ve done for Food For the Hungry over the past couple years.

The most recent is “Imagine What is Possible” which I wrapped up last week.  I’ve got a handful of videos for them in the next few months so I’ll keep you posted. I’m most excited about the potential to go to the field and film & photograph for them in June or July.

If you’d like to know more about them, swing by their site at www.fh.org

a quick preview…

This past Sunday I got to hang out with Beth & Ryan for their engagement session…
I don’t want to give too much away just yet, but here’s a preview of what’s to come…check back soon!

A birthday in Weston…

My dear friend Amy turned…let’s say “27″ the other day.  She’s cool enough to watch Big Bang Theory with on Monday nights AND doesn’t talk during LOST which is the number rule in our house!   Jewel, Ryan, Amy and I decided to load up some cameras and head to Weston, MO to shoot, eat and enjoy the incredible weather – We realized at dinner that we would’ve annoyed anyone else that would’ve come with us if they weren’t totally into photography – here’s a couple shots from the day -

Jewel is such a rock-star!

Amy’s birthday present:

Ryan shot this one of me taking the pic right above this one

The Moment.

I just spent the last two days in a photography workshop put on by Tyler Wirken & Brooks Wittington.

My head really hurts right now given the amount of knowledge they crammed into it, but it’s unbelievable.  These guys have a craft like I’ve never seen.  I’ve always been a big fan of Wirken Photography, but to hear how they do what they do and the mental skill that it takes to pull off is just unreal.

I’m not 100% sure what I’m going to do with all this information, but hopefully you’ll see the difference in my images soon.

check my links to the right and you’ll find the one for Wirken Photo.